'Breaking the Fifth Wall' Off-Broadway review — Lou Wall unravels layers of comedic truth — or do they?
Read our review of Breaking the Fifth Wall off Broadway, a solo show written and performed by Lou Wall, who sets the record straight on a viral comedy bit.
If there’s a fourth wall between live performers and audiences, then stand-up comedians have what Australian comic Lou Wall describes as a translucent “fifth wall.” Wall suggests that comedians talk to their audience but they don’t totally get rid of that barrier between artist and spectator to create total equality. The comic still has the mic and therefore gets more attention and artistic power. We are left to engage or disengage, take them at their word or disbelieve them.
That tenuous relationship and sense of trust between a stand up comedian and their audience is ostensibly the conceit of Wall's show Breaking the Fifth Wall, which, using their viral bit “Facebook Marketplace: The Musical,” aspires to interrogate the nature of truth in comic storytelling, the responsibility of the comedian, and how easily manipulated an audience can be.
With heavy, sometimes unnecessary, use of projection, Wall’s premise feels situated in the online world, where anything can be deepfaked and turned into an easily shareable bit whose truthfulness matters only insofar as it creates discourse. Comments on the “Facebook Marketplace” video swing between the shock and anger toward the bit’s clown and villain, a woman who makes a simple transaction for a bed frame an absurd nightmare, and complete disbelief of the story.
Breaking the Fifth Wall at times leans into PowerPoint-style comedy, where the joke’s thrust is in one of the slides, where we either see the text (misspelled DMs) or a meme that finishes an existing joke Wall performed verbally. Though some of these bits are amusing (particularly one about telling the difference between serial killers' mugshots and comedians' headshots), they sometimes reveal a lack of focus.
Wall’s inquiries into their own comic voice's relationship to lies and truth, and how that impacts their relationship to an audience, are worthwhile. But the show seems mostly interested in cleverly unraveling layers of in-show reality. To Wall’s credit, they’re as wordy as they are emphatic; bits of Breaking the Fifth Wall feature Wall speaking in verse with intricate wordplay, puns, and allusions. But Wall relies more on the spectacle of creating endless levels of "truth" and less on examining why they did it, why it matters, or why an audience cares about the implicit truth they assume comedians are telling.
Wall cites the Hasan Minhaj controversy, in which the comedian exaggerated portions of a bit that did not stand up to the New Yorker’s fact-checking. But they doesn’t really articulate the crux of that controversy or interrogate audiences' readiness to trust performers whose jobs are to make us laugh. There’s a whiff of “post-truth-era comedy” in the show, and while Donald Trump is namechecked and Wall reiterates “everything is a lie,” they don’t build out that idea in depth.
Wall is best as a technical deconstructionist, outlining each step of how they assembled a particular bit with a time-lapse video glowing behind them. Wall has compelling ambitions, and they possess a clear, assured grasp on how to exploit and maneuver an audience through a complex structure. But one wishes the emotional stakes were bigger or that there was a sense of, if not catharsis, then complete synthesis somewhere in Wall’s hall of mirrors. They're not the first to lie on stage, nor was Minhaj the first to fudge things for a laugh. Wall struggles to justify why we should care if they lied in the first place.
Breaking the Fifth Wall summary
Australian comic Lou Wall relates their experience performing “Facebook Marketplace: The Musical” at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala, the origins of the internet-famous bit, and how its virality forced them to ask questions about how they use truth and deception in their work.
What to expect at Breaking the Fifth Wall
Wall is an affable performer, standing at 6’4” and energetically using their gangliness to bounce around the stage in a leopard-print jogging suit that matches rest of the set. Breaking the Fifth Wall is dense with reversals and wordplay, and it also features projection that shows the viral “Facebook Marketplace” bit as well as some other musical and visual comedy.
What audiences are saying about Breaking the Fifth Wall
Viewers of Breaking the Fifth Wall off Broadway and during its previous runs in Edinburgh, Sydney, and Melbourne have shared praise for Lou Wall's layered and clever writing.
- “This was a fantastic show - if you're interested in comedy writing especially, you HAVE TO SEE IT!” - Show-Score user Cas B
- “Amazingly clever and funny. Truly worth double the price!” - Show-Score user Jennifer S
- “Breaking The Fifth Wall is a very special show [...] carefully and expertly written.” - Review of the show's Australian production by Benjamin Lamb for The Scoop
Read more audience reviews of Breaking the Fifth Wall on Show-Score.
Who should see Breaking the Fifth Wall
- Audiences who are into pop musical comedy will enjoy Wall’s clever use of meter and manipulation of rhyme scheme.
- Fans of PowerPoint comedy will be impressed by how Wall uses it to aid in her dissection of deceit in comedy.
- Theatregoers who enjoy meta shows will enjoy navigating the various nesting dolls contained in Wall’s comedy show about creating comedy.
Learn more about Breaking the Fifth Wall
Lou Wall's examination of trust and the audience/comedian relationship is funny and fascinating, but it sometimes feels unfocused, lacking an emotional anchor and clarification on why that trust matters.
Photo credit: Lou Wall. (Photos by Emilio Madrid)
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